Sunday, September 25, 2011

Port Melbourne won the VFL Grand Final today beating age-old rivals Williamstown 22.12.144 to 13.10.88. It's been 29 years since our last premiership and there are a lot of happy people in The Borough tonight. This is one of the banners that the local Council hung on the Port Melbourne Town Hall earlier in the week to celebrate the team reaching the Grand Final.

No doubt you are wondering what this has to do with Art Deco, especially since the Town Hall is very clearly a Victorian building, designed by J J Wild and constructed in 1882. However in the late 1930s, the then Port Melbourne City Engineer, Fred Cook, redesigned the auditorium and Council Chamber in Art Deco style.

courtesy Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society

Above is a photo of the Red Cross Ball held for the official opening of the remodelled auditorium on May 24th, 1938. The auditorium has been modified several times since then and sadly little or none of the 1938 hall remains. This ship plaque (below) was salvaged and is now part of the collection of the Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society.

courtesy Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society

I mentioned that at the same time Cook also designed the Council Chamber but around the 1960s a false ceiling was put in and the lovely deco ceiling he designed was covered up until several years ago after a severe storm when part of the ceiling collapsed. Here is some detail from Cook's ceiling which I was lucky enough to photograph before it was removed and replaced with a very, very plain, dare I say boring, barrel vaulted Victorian facsimile.

I know PMTH is a Victorian building so I can understand the desire to put in a Victorian ceiling but I think there was a very strong reason to retain at least some of the Art Deco. Cook also designed some furniture for the room and this is his original hand-drawn sketch.

courtesy Port Melbourne Historical & Preservation Society

And this furniture still sits in the Council Chamber somewhat at odds with its Victorianised surroundings.

Friday, September 23, 2011

This State School in Campbell Town, Tasmania was built between September 1937 and June 1938. It was designed by S W T Blythe of the Public Works Department assisted by J H Walter.

An article in the Hobart Mercury newspaper from September 23, 1937 referring to the plans described the new school as follows.

Architecturally the building has been designed in a modern style, with a tower at the corner as its dominant feature. The tall glass brick panel in the tower will offer a pleasing contrast to the marked horizontality of the class and cloak rooms.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Golf Links estate in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell offers a wonderful variety of interwar house designs. I've written about several Golf Link houses previously and this is another example.

The main design feature are the crazy brick patterns arranged in large semi-circular panels above each of the ground floor windows but I think the most interesting aspect of the decoration is the arrangements of bricks on the gable end of the house.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Calle Cerrito in Montevideo's Ciudad Vieja, not surprisingly, is home to Edificio Cerrito, a rundown Art Deco apartment block. However, if my very basic Spanish is not leading me astray, the whole vacant building is for sale. Twenty-three apartments, 4 per floor (I know the maths doesn't work) and they are in a buen estado de conservation. They is good news because from the outside you could not imagine the interior would be in good condition.

Judging from the condition of the entrance and the rest of the ground floor, the building requires some work. There are also many broken windows which can't be good for the state of the interior.

Still the building has a lovely façade that reminds me of an open book. Restored this block may even raise itself into the top ten deco buildings in Montevideo.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Next door to the Audley Building in Portland, the subject of yesterday's post, is this corner building.

The corner building has been rendered but still uses the thin dark brown bricks as decoration. A line arranged vertically form the roofline. Two dark bands then ring the building high up on the façade and those same coloured bricks form the columns between the windows.

An extra bonus is the square tower on the actual corner of the building. Like the rest of the façade, the tower has two bands around the top but also has a series of stepped triangle motifs along each side. It also has a squat flag pole, a deco staple.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Audley Building in western Victoria town of Portland is a long horizontal cream brick building that uses thin brown bricks to provide minimal decoration.

Each of the windows is surrounded by a dark border while two dark bands link all but the central two openings which sit on a portion of the façade jutting out towards the street.

That central section also features a thick vertical bar of dark brick running up to two horizontal bands much higher up the façade than those at window level. This arrangement providing a platform for the name of the building.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Albion Hotel, in Dean Street, Albury was designed in 1941 by Frederick Morsby. It has been modified since then, particularly at street level, and the scaffolding on the roof indicates that this pub is still undergoing change.

The Albion was one of the buildings spotlighted during the Albury - Delightfully Deco exhibition programme and I think it looked pretty in pink.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

This is Edificio Guahy, designed by Ricardo Buffa in 1932. This magnificent apartment building barely escaped demolition in 1995 but thankfully the new owners were not granted a permit and the building has now been restored.

The main features of the building are crystalline forms of the façade. They can clearly be seen below the second storey windows and at the roof line.

The stripes along the façade at street level extend from this amazing doorway.

The open section at the centre of the building feature lovely pointed balconies with matching, angled metalwork.

One of the problems of going to a World Congress on Art Deco is the difficulty to get clean photos of the buildings. There are so many other people wanting to have a look or take pictures that you have to be very patient to get that clear shot. Sometimes you end up with people in your photo.

photo courtesy of Peter Sheridan

That's me! Right in the middle of the doorway blocking my friend Peter Sheridan's shot. Still he was nice enough to sent it to me and it does serve as proof that I was there. Photos of me a very rare. And I think it was worth me blocking Peter's shot because shortly afterwards, this is what I ended up with.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

I like these apartments in São Paulo because, to me, they show the process of, if not gentrification, then certainly maintenance and restoration of older buildings. Both good and bad aspects.

One of the obvious signs are the partial paint job yet there is no sign of paint or scaffolding or other materials to complete the job. Also some of the balconies have been enclosed which I personally think is a shame but then I don't live in an apartment block.

A less obvious sign of the possibly gentrification is the footpath in front of the building. It appears to me that individual buildings in Brazilian cities are responsible for their part of the footpath so you can get variations such as we see here.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

This is the former Bank of Montreal building across the road from the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. It was built in 1930 to designs by architect Ernest I Barott. While the overall structure is quite classical the building is ringed by a series of wonderful deco friezes.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Banco La Caja Obrera or Worker's Bank in the Ciudad Vieja, the old city, in Montevideo features these striking sculpted reliefs by Edmundo Prati above the doors. Each panel represents an aspect related to the ideals of the bank and bears Prati's name and the year 1941.

MELBOURNE ART DECO
In 2009 Robin Grow published a book on Melbourne Art Deco, with images largely supplied by David Thompson. The book quickly sold out and he is pleased to say that it has now been re-published by Brolga Press, with updates, errors corrected and a new cover.

Best of all, it is selling for about $25 in the shops and on-line. Art Deco & Modernism Society members can purchase a copy from me for $22, (includes postage within Australia). For overseas orders please email for postage rates. Contact me at robingrow@ozemail.com.au if you are interested, and advise if you would like the book to be dedicated and/or signed.